We had a big day two of exploring planned for our Death Valley adventure, which would include Ubehebe Crater, The Racetrack, and Lippincott Trail, which would bring us down into Saline Valley and then connect us to Panamint Valley for a visit to Darwin Falls and then refueling for our return to camp in Wildrose Canyon. We would drive nearly 250 miles this day, with a significant portion off road.

The morning kicked off with another fulfilling breakfast, this time it was eggs, bacon, and potatoes. After everyone had a second helping, this is all that was left.

After stuffing ourselves with breakfast and packing our lunch coolers, we drove out of Wildrose Canyon (Emigrant Wash) and headed toward Stovepipe Wells to top off our tanks.

Transitioning from Emigrant Wash onto highway 190 is an incredible sight as you descend from 4,000 feet elevation to 0 feet within a short distance on approach to Stovepipe.

We topped off our gas tanks in Stovepipe and drove along Scotty's Castle road toward Ubehebe Crater. Ubehebe Crater was not created from a volcano, but rather from pressurized gases that exploded beneath the earth's surface.

The crater measures about one-half mile across. There is also another smaller crater behind and to the side of the Ubehebe Crater.

After capturing some images here and then talking with a group of Japanese tourists that had spent the previous night at the Racetrack in their rented Suburban due to a flat tire, we decided to hit the trail.

Airing down at the trailhead for The Racetrack.

Racetrack Road is maintained by the park service, however, the washboard road can be jarring if you are running your tires with street pressure and cruising at low speeds.

Racing out to The Racetrack across the washboards and sharp rocks.

Arriving at the famed Tea Kettle Junction for a quick break and a photo with the many hanging tea kettles. We were going to bring our tea kettle and hang it on the sign, but then realized we would need it for breakfast the next day.

Further along the trail, we could begin to see the black rocks, also known as the The Grandstand, distinguishing itself from The Racetrack Valley floor.

The Grandstand sits all alone out in the middle of The Racetrack floor.

The moving rocks are at the south end of The Racetrack. Here is Red Rider chasing the dust of El Chupacabra to get a look at the rocks.

Alas, we had arrived at the scene of the mysterious moving rocks. Which of course, the mystery has been solved by a team of scientists that identified that when the ground freezes and the wind blows, it provides the perfect combination of elements for these rocks to inch their way along the Racetrack, leaving a concave wake in their path.

Aside from the science, we were all looking forward to making it to The Racetrack to view the moving rocks that were in a stationary position, at least on this day.

And if you were curious as to how I captured that very cool photo of the rock on The Racetrack, it requires a particular yoga move, which my good friend was happy to photograph while I was in mid-pose. It also requires the use of your iPhone for balance, or at least to get the desired photo.

Another image of this moving rock with its track disappearing into the distance.

The dry lake bed floor feels and looks as if it were manufactured. Amazing natural patterns remain after all water has evaporated.

After hanging out at The Racetrack, we headed up to the Lippincott Trailhead for lunch.

Starting down Lippincott Trail, the old Lippincott mine is visible in the distance.

Overall, Lippincott is a moderate trail with a lot of small sharp rocks. There are a few technical sections, as well as a lot of shelf road driving.

Saline Valley is seen in the distance.

Red Rider navigating an off-camber trail section on Lippincott.

Some sections were more technical than others, while navigating around the larger rocks was fun.

Welcome to a road with no signs.

After reaching the bottom of Lippincott, the expanse of Saline Valley put into perspective the additional mileage we were going to need to cover in order to make it back to camp before dark.

My Gaia GPS app on the iPad worked great, helping to keep us on course and not miss any turns.

Driving out of Saline Valley brought us up to the mountain pass that would eventually lead us down into Panamint Valley.

In this panorama picture, it is hard to see, but at the base of the mountains in the distance are the Panamint Valley Sand Dunes. Saline Valley Road continues to wrap around the mountain along the right side.

Saline Valley Road continues all the way out to highway 190. After we hit pavement, we checked our time and progress and determined we would have enough time to visit Darwin Falls in Panamint.

At Darwin Falls, a short hike up a large sand wash and some rock scrambling brings you to the falls itself, which provides year round water and is also the water source for Panamint Valley Springs Resort.

Despite the cool water temperature, K-Dawg our chocolate lab, decided it was a good place to cool off and fetch a stick.

Fueling up in Panamint Springs for $6 a gallon.

After driving about 250 miles exploring Death Valley in one day, it was time to head back to camp for dinner.

Now that's one full pot of beans!!! We ate beans and more beans and then ate some more beans that night.

We also had hamburgers as a side dish to our beans along with refreshments.

We finished off a great weekend of exploring Death Valley with a warm campfire and some stories recapping our days together.

Our first annual SoCal Overland Death Valley adventure kicked off in October 2014. We had four days, two of which were completely dedicated to exploring Death Valley and surrounding areas.

While Day 1 and Day 4 were dedicated to getting there and getting home, Day 2 was focused on seeing popular sights including Titus Canyon, Leadfield Ghost Town, Badwater Basin, and passing through Stovepipe Wells for gas as well as Furnace Creek to pay our park fees.

Day 3 included viewing Ubehebe Crater, a trip out to the Racetrack to see the moving rocks, Lippencott Trail, Saline Valley, Darwin Falls, and Panamint Valley for $6 a gallon gas.

Here are our rigs lined up at the Death Valley National Park sign.

Roadside break before arriving at Wildrose Road cutoff, which happened to be closed due to major flash flood damage. We "heard" that sections of the road were covered in small boulders, tree parts, and mud. More significantly, large portions of the road are completely gone. Hoping the Feds will find the money for these needed road repairs as the additional drive time on highway 178 to highway 190 to the Emigrant Pass cutoff makes the drive into Wildrose camp an hour longer.

Considering that Death Valley can still be fairly hot (100+F) in October, Wildrose Camp at about 4,000 feet elevation provided a pleasant escape from the valley heat. And with nearly every square inch of Death Valley being absent of cellular service, we were sure to be off the grid for a few days.

Because Wildrose is very much off the beaten path, there were very few other campers here during our stay, in fact, by Saturday night, we were the only campers here.

We also had beautiful sunsets viewed from camp each night.

And we ate like kings for breakfast and dinner each day, thanks to our outstanding chefs.That's grilled pork chops, sweet potato, and corn for Friday night dinner.

Lunches were delicious as well, but enjoyed on the trail.

And just a little further up the canyon from our Wildrose Camp are the still very well preserved Charcoal Kilns that I had been wanting to see in person for a long time.

Inside each kiln you will still smell the scent of cooked Pinyon Pine tree lumber.

The charcoal kilns were designed by Swiss engineers and built by Chinese laborers. The 10 kilns were built in 1879 and in use for only three years, which helped them to remain in very good condition more than 100 years later.

Day two, we headed out of the canyon to Stovepipe Wells to fuel up and drive into Nevada to begin our exploration of another long awaited site that our entire group had wanted to see.

Speaking of seeing things, here is the "At Sea Level" sign across the street from the Stovepipe Wells gas station. Have you seen this before?

The drive from Stovepipe Wells into Nevada ended at the turnoff for Titus Canyon. No slot machines here.

Overall, Titus Canyon is typically a well maintained dirt road suitable for all stock SUVs (like a Toyota Highlander). Though, it is always a good idea to check with the ranger station before heading into Titus Canyon, just in case you have any doubts.

Titus Canyon is a one way trail with incredible geologic features as well as remnants of the short-lived town of Leadfield, which is now just (barely) a ghost town as much of the buildings and structures have dissappeared.

Airing down for ride comfort before blazing across the dry desert washboard road into Titus Canyon.

Note that there was intermittent cell phone service along the initial few miles of trail.

Red Rider and El Chupacabra stirring up dust along the trail into Titus Canyon.

Can you find the red Jeep in this picture?

Looking back at the road of Titus Canyon as we gained elevation. The trail slowly works its way into the surroundings of mountains.

As you go deeper into Titus Canyon, the mountains display a geologic rainbow of colors from all of the different minerals that reside in this area.

Seeing this area in person is amazing.

El Chupacabra getting closer to Leadfield.

One of the few remaining structures still standing in the Ghost Town of Leadfield. I read that much of Leadfield was looted for the materials until the U.S. government stepped in and began protecting what was left of this Ghost Town.

Leadfield was short lived, going from boom-to-bust in about 12 months time.

Convenient parking across the trail from building remnants.

Further along the trail, things get interesting as the earth displays a dramatic uplift of the rock layers. However, according to other sources, this upward bend of the rock layers in Titus Canyon is only a visual trick of the eye. And the park has therefore removed the sign that once stood here explaining the uplift of the earth.

Having been to this point in person now, it appears to be very clearly an uplift of the rock layers. I am not a geologist or scientist, but this is what it looks like and it looks like an uplift of the earth, so go figure.

Exploring deeper into Titus Canyon, the walls narrow in upon each other displaying more amazing color variations.

Titus Canyon eventually opens up, where millions of years ago water rushed out into the valley below.

Today, the graded road winds its way down to Scotty's Castle Road.

In an effort to add a few more items to the "been there, done that" list, we took a long trek across the valley floor to Badwater where the elevation dips to -282 feet below sea level. And as the mountains here continue to rise, the Badwater Basin continues to slip further below sea level.

Badwater Basin is the lowest point on land in all of the western hemisphere.

In the parking area at Badwater, my Jeep Garmin GPS gave me a fairly accurate reading of -249 feet. Though more surprising was my recorded Maximum Speed of 102MPH. I did not know Wranglers could go that fast; perhaps this was achieved in manufacturer testing before I took delivery of my Wrangler (???).

Hot and dry at Badwater. The ground here has been flattened by the thousands of visitors walking out onto the dry sea bed.

After a long day of exploring, we turned our rigs back toward Stovepipe Wells and into Wildrose Canyon. As we arrived back at camp, we discovered 22 burros hanging out on the hillside above our camp.

While we suspected these burros to be government drones set out to spy on us, we later determined that they were real and only interested in getting to the other side of the road for a drink of water.

Hey, what do you call a baby burro? A "burrito".

We are working on posting Day 3 pictures of Ubehebe Crater, The Racetrack, Lippencott Trail, Saline Valley, Darwin Falls, and Panamint Valley.

Welcome

My name is Mike. I'm an Overlander and father of two. After 25 years of riding motocross, I have become passionate about experiencing the outdoors with my wife and kids. We live in Southern California. I post on camping and off-roading adventures.